OVER THE TRANSOM
—KNIT, PURL, SLIP STITCH—
By SANDY RASCHKE
It may sound odd, or un-literary, but I
have spent most of my summer making little baby caps and booties
for several charities, including our local hospital auxiliary,
which was in danger of discontinuing its free “baby caps for
all” pro-gram, because most of their volunteers had aged, passed
away or given up interest. I had read an article in the county’s
annual Sagebrush magazine about a 105 (!) year-old
woman who had been knitting 30 caps a month for years, but had
“slowed down” considerably due to her failing eyesight. Since I
had returned to knit-ting/crocheting after a twenty-year hiatus,
I thought I could at least give it a try. I had com-pleted two
projects late last year, one for the daughter of a friend of
ours, who was having her first child, and the other for a former
client who was having her second, and both turned out well.
Then a friend suggested another
charity that sends mainly “preemie” caps, booties, etc., to
hospitals all over the country for their neo-natal units. I
downloaded several free patterns, got out the needles and
crochet hooks and began with some leftover yarn. After that ran
out, I bought more. In about a month’s time, I had a dozen tiny
baby caps and slightly more than a dozen caps for full-term
infants. I took a sampler downtown to give to the hospital
auxiliary, and they offered me free yarn to make more.
I suppose I should be writing short
stories, poetry, etc., in my spare time—and I have a lot of
spare time nowadays since we have re-tired—but I’ve found great
satisfaction in employ-ing these reawakened manual skills,
especially
when they’re for a worthy purpose. And, no, I haven’t given up
writing altogether. (After all, you are reading this column.)
From time to time I do get a hankering for putting words on
paper and assembling them into something more than an idea or
concept; but it’s not a strong urge, or as compelling as it used
to be.
Our summer here in Central Oregon
has been generally uneventful. We keep getting blow-back smoke
from the Northern California blazes, which has impacted our air
quality at times, but, so far, we’ve had no catastrophic
wildfires around here to add to the murk. All the counties have
held their annual fairs and rodeos—been there, done that. The
last big summer wingding in Madras will be the Air Show of the
Cascades, to be held in late August, with over 50 vintage
air-craft on display, barnstorming demonstrations, parachutists,
and all kinds of entertainment. Sounds like fun.
This issue contains the winners of
the 16th Annual Calliope Fiction Contest, and the First
through Third Place stories. Although participation wasn’t as
strong as we would have liked, we do plan to hold the contest
again next year. Until then, regular submissions of fiction are
welcome and encouraged, along with your comments.
Enjoy the rest of summer!
--Sandy